THE HISTORY OF IRISH WHISKEY

Even so, Irish whiskey still had a healthy market in many parts of the Empire and the United States. But those too, were soon to be lost. The US market was placed beyond them by the enforcement of Prohibition in 1920 which continued until 1933. Worse still, the Irish War of Independence in 1916 culminated first in the partitioning of the country and then in civil war between 1919 and 1921. When a trade war began between the new free State and Britain, the Irish whiskey industry was going to be a sure fire casualty. The British and Empire markets including Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India were from that date beyond the irish distillers' reach.

Many Distilleries had now died out. For some like Monasterevin and wexford, death was quick. For others, like Locke's, Comber and Tullamore it was slow, stretching into the mid- 1950s.

Only a few distilleries now remain andwith the arrival of The Irishman Whiskey, the rebirth of Irish Whiskey is well underway.